Child porn cases add up

Sunday

Jul 7, 2013 at 12:01 AMJul 7, 2013 at 7:01 AM

The headlines seem to appear almost weekly. “Man gets 17 years in child porn case.” “Two men face child porn charges.” “Man pleads guilty to producing child porn.” “Child porn probe leads to arrest of man, 24.” The headlines reflect the reality that numerous local men — no local child pornography arrests appear to involve women — are risking long jail sentences by viewing and exchanging obscene photos and videos of children on the Internet.

The headlines reflect the reality that numerous local men — no local child pornography arrests appear to involve women — are risking long jail sentences by viewing and exchanging obscene photos and videos of children on the Internet.

“Many or most of our defendants don’t have criminal records,” said Assistant State’s Attorney Theresa Anne Ferryman, who prosecutes many child pornography cases in New London Superior Court.

“Individuals in their 70s and teenagers are being arrested for this material,” said Michelle Collins, vice president of the Exploited Child Division of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. “There is no demographic.” Collins said that, in fact, some women do get arrested for child pornography possession, though the overwhelming majority is men.

Two of the most notorious local cases involved Alan Hesketh, a 61-year-old Pfizer executive who lived in Stonington, and the Rev. Dennis Carey, a 65-year-old former Catholic pastor in Waterford.

Hesketh, who was Pfizer’s patent director when he was arrested, had been married for 39 years and had four adult children and five grandchildren. Federal authorities said he exchanged 1,067 images online from June 2006 to May 2007, even using his Pfizer computer in New York. After his arrest, he lost his job and got a divorce. He was sentenced to 6½ years in federal prison in October 2008.

Carey was arrested a year ago, after state and Waterford police searched the rectory of St. Paul in Chains Church. Police said a forensic analysis of Carey’s computer equipment turned up 338 images and videos of suspected child pornography, including graphic videos of children between 2 and 3 years old. Carey admitted to police he had an addiction to child pornography but denied ever having had sexual contact with a child. He died May 20 of a heart attack while the case against him was pending.

Only estimates exist for how many people who view child pornography also are predators, Collins said. The estimates range from 15 percent all the way to 85 percent.

The high number came from a 2009 study published in the Journal of Family Violence in which 85 percent of 155 federal inmates convicted of child pornography told the researchers they also had sexually abused children.

Ferryman cautioned the study results are disputed, however, and a prosecutor who uses them at a sentencing needs to mention that all other studies have come up with less dramatic results.

Collins said even if the offender has no personal contact with children, what they do is horrifying enough.

“For any of these images to exist, a child had to be abused,” she said. In addition, the children are aware that images showing their abuse still exist and are being traded on the Internet. “The trauma they continue to experience years after their abuse is very, very difficult,” she said.

Law enforcement officers continually troll the Internet looking for people who view child porn. State Trooper Jonathan Carreiro is assigned to the Computer Crimes and Electronic Evidence Laboratory in Meriden.

According to its website, the laboratory investigates or assists in more than 400 criminal complaints per year. About 70 percent of its cases involve child exploitation or pornography.

Carreiro said in the affidavits that many people interested in child porn use peer-to-peer file-sharing programs. The programs, such as Imule used by Fraser, are commonly used to download music or videos, sometimes illegally.

The user would type in a search term such as “preteen sex” and download a file stored on another computer, Carreiro said.

While the file was downloading, an investigator using the same program and watching suspicious files could identify the computer receiving the file and its approximate area. Investigators then could get a court order from a Meriden judge, submit it to the Internet service provider and get an account name and address.

After they’re released from prison, offenders almost always must register as sex offenders. Under state law, the period of supervised release is usually 10 years; under federal law since 2009, the sex offender restrictions are usually supposed to last the rest of their lives.

These restrictions treat them as though they are a danger to children whether or not they’ve violated one in person. They are banned from having contact with minors without getting permission, banned from schools, recreation fields and other places children gather, required to report where they live and work and any romantic relationship.

“The Legislature tells us (offenders) are a continued risk to children in our jurisdiction,” Ferryman said.

“I’m sure people wouldn’t want to leave their children with that person,” Collins said.